This invention relates to a room ventilator and, more particularly, to a regenerative room ventilator of the type wherein polluted air is removed from and fresh air is supplied to the room, and wherein heat is transferred between the polluted, or room, air and the fresh air.
In an effort to conserve energy, buildings, and particularly dwellings, are constructed in a manner which minimizes leakage between air within the structure and exterior air. Sources of leakage, such as joints, windows, doors and other openings, typically are sealed effectively to prevent any leakage of warm interior air during the cold winter season or cool, air-conditioned interior air during the summer season. While such sealing techniques have improved energy conservation, the resultant reduction of air infiltration has aggravated indoor pollution.
Polluted, or stale, room air generally is not replaced with fresh air in sealed houses unless a door or window is opened or other effective ventilating equipment is provided. In its simplest form, a room ventilator may be constructed merely as a register or duct in an outside wall or roof of a house to permit polluted room air to pass therethrough to the exterior and to allow fresh air to enter the house. Such a simple ventilator is, however, a source of energy loss by allowing warm air to escape during the winter and by allowing cool air to escape during the summer.
More complicated air exchangers have been proposed wherein exhaust and inlet conduits are disposed in heat exchange relationship to permit the heat from exhausted room air to be transferred to incoming fresh air. Such exchangers reduce energy loss by replacing polluted room air with fresh air. However, one difficulty encountered with such exchangers is the installation thereof. Generally, these devices are installed by suspending them beneath the floor or elevating them above a ceiling in a house. If the house is a completed structure, such installation is time-consuming and expensive because substantial renovations in the building itself may be needed. Also, the respective flows of polluted and fresh air in such exchangers typically are in the horizontal direction, thus requiring relatively large horizontal structures to effect proper heat exchange between these air flows. Moreover, because the polluted and fresh air flow in horizontal channels, the polluted air inlet and fresh air outlet to a room are constrained to be closely spaced to each other. This results in feedback or "cross-talk" by which the fresh air is fed back into the polluted air discharge channel. Consequently, the efficiency of such exchangers in removing pollution and in warming the incoming fresh air is reduced. One type of exchanger is adapted to be installed in a partially-opened window of the house. While this installation is relatively simple, it suffers from the disadvantages of obscuring a substantial portion of the window area, it is aesthetically displeasing, it exhibits the aforementioned cross-talk, and it is relatively noisy in operation.
Although vertically oriented heat exchangers have been known, such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,871,322, 1,960,325, 2,091,119, 2,360,094 and 2,488,333, as examples, such heat exchange apparatus generally is not used as a room ventilator by which polluted, stale room air is replaced by fresh air.